for us now is the time of self-determination, creative thought needs freedom – Kommersant

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the time has come for the country to self-determination. In his opinion, this also applies to creativity, because “creative thought needs freedom.” In his opinion, the Russian Federation does not need “rudely imposed from the outside” guidelines or standards that suppress “any originality and originality of development.”

“For us, now, in fact, is the time of self-determination, the struggle for the right to be ourselves. This fully applies to culture as well. Creative thought, creative search, of course, needs freedom,” Mr. Putin said.

The Russian leader made such an opinion in video messagehttp://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71216 on the occasion of the opening of the Academy of Creative Industries in the Tavrida art cluster. He argued that culture and art, which are designed to unite people, were “at the epicenter of geopolitical confrontation.” As Mr. Putin explained, “they are trying to ‘cancel’ everything connected with Russia, delete it from the heritage of civilization,” but, in his opinion, those who do this punish, “first of all, themselves, deprive their peoples, their citizens opportunity to touch the original masterpieces.

As Vladimir Putin notes, against this background, Russia “treats the heritage of world culture with great respect.” “In our country, it is simply impossible to imagine attempts to ‘cancel’ it. But, looking at what is happening in the world, we understand more and more clearly: we do not need guidelines or standards, crudely imposed from the outside, which suppress any originality and originality of development,” the head of state added.

In Russia, since the entry of troops into Ukraine, concerts and performances by many creative figures have been canceled. Many artists and singers have been added to the register of foreign agents for criticizing the military operation, including Zemfira (Zemfira Ramazanova), Bi-2 soloist Lyova (Yegor Bortnik), Andrey Makarevich, Noize MC (Ivan Alekseev) and many others.

About the “cancellation culture” of Russian artists abroad and in Russia – in Boris Barabanov’s column “Associative incoherence”.

Leonid Uvarchev